A pregnant mother has spoken of her moment of horror as a man snatched her child, aged two.

She said: "I was terrified. I screamed all I could."

The mother, from Brighton, chased after the man and he eventually put the child down and fled. Police were today hunting the offender and warned parents to be on their guard.

The mother, 26 weeks pregnant with her third child, was in Saltdean Park, Brighton, when the man pounced.

She said: "My son wandered a few metres from me, like children do, and I when I looked back the man was bending down and putting his arm round my son.

"My boy sat down and the man picked him up and walked away quickly."

The mother shouted and screamed but the man ignored her. She followed him, pushing a buggy carrying her other child.

"He was about 20 or 30 metres away. I was screaming and I am sure he knew I was there but he did not turn round."

It was only as the mother approached that the man put the child down. The boy sat on the ground screaming before his mother picked him up.

Police searched the area but there was no trace of the offender. Officers carried out house-to-house inquiries.

The offender is white, 35 to 40, 5ft 10in, with black hair.

He wore a dark-blue knitted sweater and dark-blue cotton trousers.